| Luke 15: 4-8
Why are we here?
Porque estamos aqui?
Well, first off, we are here because we are sinners. We come not only with the consciousness of personal sin, but also of communal and social sin, of which we all have a share. We are here because there is evil in the world, and we stand paralyzed and mute in the face of it.
Estamos aqui porque somos pecadores. No hay persona aqui que no tiene pecado. Hay tambien pecado communal, y, paralizados en frente de tanta maldad social, tenemos parte en este pecado
We are here for forgiveness. We have the selfish need to unburden ourselves of guilt but also we want to get on with doing some good in the world and the wickedness of sin stands in our way.
Estamos aqui para pedir el perdon de Dios
But, most of all, we are here to celebrate. In the Gospel we encounter a shepherd who lost one out of a hundred sheep. He went searching for the one sheep out of love. Leaving the ninety nine behind, his love was so great that, when he found it in the desert, he put it around his shoulders and was happy again. We are here to celebrate a God whose love is so great that the embrace of God extends to us when we are furthest from the fold, when we have participated in an evil greater than ever before, when we have caused irreparable damage to a brother or sister.
Mas que todo, estamos aqui para celebrar. Lo que celebramos es el amor de Dios, un amor que se extiende hasta el delito mas terrible, el pecado mas grande,
The Sacrament of Reconciliation, be it a private confession or a public service, ritualizes and formalizes the experience of God's all embracing love. The examination of conscience puts us in the presence of the Tremendous Lover, the forgiveness of sin is a byproduct, so to speak, of this embrace, the Penance that follows is our human attempt to remind ourselves through some small token of changing of the ways we take for granted this gift beyond measure.
We cannot leave this encounter unchanged. We are touched in a way beyond any human gesture of love. What we can become is greater lovers ourselves. We can more easily understand and forgive and accept without condition. We can find our voice in the face of overwhelming evil in the world.
Cada encuentro con el amor de Dios nos cambia. Somos amantes mas perfectos. En frente del mal en el mundo, ya tenemos voz.
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